I’m still figuring out what this is and how to best use it in a collaborative way with an audience. It’s a strange thing, the writing life, especially now in the Internet Age of personal brands and social media with the constant need to keep up, stay on top of people’s feeds, and always be relevant.
I’m not quite sure how to do it, or if I am doing it well. But I appreciate you, dear reader, your attention and support of this endeavor. I suppose it was more than appropriate that I titled this project “The Ghost,” as it always feels a little evasive trying to nail down what I’m getting at. I think that’s what is beautiful and maddening about creativity—its mystery.
At any rate, I’d like to do something a little more interactive this month. In previous months, we’ve done live calls with subscribers, sharing big ideas and small, learned this and that about writing, and read more than a few poems.
But today, I wanted to do more of an “open loop” type thing: For the next week, you can ask any question you want, and I’ll answer it.
I am often dumbfounded and a little chagrined as to why anyone would support such a silly project as this one, where I make no hard promises other than that I’ll share with you what I think is interesting to me in the moment. Of course, I aim to make it worth your while as best I can; and if it’s not, that’s quite all right too. I enjoy the freedom of this platform that allows everyone to take what they need, leave the rest, and go their own way when that time comes.
So that’s a long winded way of saying: How can I help? What’s something needling you that I can try to address?
In this post—where the comments will be open to all—I invite you to ask anything you’d like. You’ll have a week to do this, then I’ll close the comments (I’m not sure if I can do this, but I’ll try).
Then, I’ll record a private podcast just for paid subscribers, answering every question asked and doing what I can to entertain in the process. Maybe I’ll even throw in a few extra bonuses (you won’t know, though, until the time comes).
So, ask me anything.
It can be a question about writing, a personal matter regarding my life (I’ll let you know if something is off limits), an issue you’ve always been curious about, or something else entirely—you pick. I’ll spend a week answering all the questions and share them separately in an audio post.
Again, the questions can be asked by anyone, but the answers will only be available to paid subscribers. And if you aren’t already “in,” you can sign up by clicking the link below.
This publication, and frankly my life, runs on the willingness of others to support my writing habit in a variety of ways. I am continually grateful to those who see some value in what I do and are willing to put to work their hard-earned money in service of one man’s dream of never growing up.
I enjoy experimenting with you, and it’s been fun to play around with different types of posts and ideas. So let’s see what we can learn and create together.
Let’s go!
P.S. To enter your question, you need to leave a comment, not just reply to the email. When the time comes (next week), I’ll go through all comments and answer them in order. Depending on how many questions come in, I may combine some or even skip over those that do not feel helpful or interesting. So, try to ask something good. Part of the fun in this, I hope, is that you get to hear the answers to other people’s questions and learn something you didn’t know you needed to learn.
P.P.S. Remember that a request is not the same as a question. Asking me to fold your laundry is not equivalent to asking if you have a publishable book idea. Requests to read your manuscript, tell my neighbors you’re my favorite person, and so on will be ignored. Bonus points for extra interesting questions.
P.P.P.S. Just to be clear: anyone can ask a question, but only paid subscribers will have access to the answers.
You were wondering why we read your stuff? This is one of the few places to read and enjoy high quality writing coming from a human mind and not an AI algorithm. Seriously, your words and phrases are like a dance, like a drink of water in a dry land.
I would love insights on how to get into ghostwriting books. I have been a professional writer for almost 20 years, and have ghostwritten well over 500 articles, some eBooks, white papers, etc, but I have not had much luck breaking into ghostwriting book manuscripts. I have excellent client references. I guess I am confused as to whether I should be trying to connect with agents, publishers, authors... or confusingly, all of the above? I do not really use social media, besides Substack, and the few people I have asked said "you need a social media presence." But... I want to be a ghostwriter, so as a ghost, I do not really want a platform or a face for myself. Thoughts, ideas, insights. I appreciate your books, your writing, and your perspective.